Alarm control mechanism



Jan. 12, 1960 ALARM CONTROL MECHANISM Filed Oct. 13, 1958 in V677 z; or: Edgar A. P/zanewf' E. A. PHANEUF 2,920,438

United States Patent 2,920,438 ALARM CONTROL MECHANISM Edgar A. Phaneuf, Southborough, Mass., amignor to General Electric Company, 'a corporation of New York Application October 13, 1958, Serial No. 766,887 7 Claims. 01. 58-2112) This invention relates to an alarm control mechanism, and more particularly to ashort interval alarm mechanism for an alarm clock.

With such a mechanism,

clock is especially desirable.

Correspondingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide an improved positive acting short interval alarm mechanism having a minimum number of parts which may be easily incorporated in analarm clock.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved snap acting short interval mechanism which may be readily operated by a conventional low torque clock motor.

In accordance with one aspect of this invention, a vibrator shut-01f lever is provided for permitting or restraining motion of a vibrator arm. The shut-ofi? lever has an alarm on position in which it is out of engagement with the vibrator arm, and an alarm off position in which it is in engagement with the vibrator arm. An interval lever is pivotally mounted on the vibrator shut off lever and gear means continuously rotated as a function of time by the clock mechanism cooperates with the interval lever to hold the vibrator shut-01f lever in the alarm off position for a predetermined short time interval. A spring means uniquely engages and cooperates with the interval lever for snapping the vibrator shut-off lever to the alarm on? position at the end of the predetermined short time interval. By this arrangement, a very simple, yet accurate, short interval alarm is achieved.

Other objects and attendant advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an alarm clock provided with the improved short interval alarm mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1 with the alarm set to be automatically sounded at a preset time;

Fig. 3 is a partial side elevational view of the mechanism as shown inFig. 1 with the parts indicated in alarm sounding position;

, Fig. 4' is a partial side elevational view of the mechanism as shown in Fig. 1 illustrating actuation of the short intervalmechanism;

f Fig. Sis a partial front nisr'n' shown in Fig.1; and

elevational view of the mecha -manent shut-off device such 2,920,438 Patented Jan. 12, 1960 Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1 illustrating the alarm shut-off by a conventional alarm shut-off device.

nism including a self starting synchronous motor. Portions of the motor stator magnet core and energizing coil are shown at 1 and 2, respectively. A resilient magnetic vibrator arm 3 operated by leakage flux from the motor is arranged to have its free end portion 4 vibrate against stator nut 5 and produce an audible alarm at all times when the motor is energized, unless the vibrator arm is prevented from vibrating by one of the alarm control parts to be described hereinafter.

A supporting structure including a base plate 6 and a front plate 7 spaced from plate 6 and arranged generally parallel thereto is provided for supporting the clock mechanism. A cam gear member 8 having a projecting cam portion 9 located thereon is rotatably mounted on the supporting structure of the clock framework. The cam portion 9 comprises an abrupt axially extending surface 10 located on one side thereof and a sloping surface 11 located on the other. A second cam gear member 12 having abrupt cam surfaces formed by a slot 13 is also rotatably mounted on the clock supporting structure as shown in the drawings, and is axially movable to actuate the alarm mechanism in a manner hereinafter described. The angular position of cam gear member 8 is manually adjustable by means of gearing in a manner well known in the art. In the embodiment shown, cam member 12 is driven by the timing motor of the clock through a suitable gearing arrangement.

The alarm mechanism is provided with a suitable peras a lever 14, having a propositioned so as to engage vibratory movement thereof when the lever is moved to the OE position shown in Fig. 6. The shut-off lever 14 is shown in the on position in Figs. 14, that is with the projection 15 out of engagement with the free end portion 4 of vvibrator arm 3 to permit the free end portion 4 to vibrate against stator nut 5.

The resilient vibrator arm 3 may be utilized to spring load the axially movable cam gear 12 into engagement with the cam gear 8 through a suitable lever mechanism such as bell crank 16 which is pivoted to base plate 6 by means of ears 17 and pivot pin 18. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, bell crank 16 transmits the spring force of vibrator arm 3 to the end of a shaft 19 which is attached to cam member 12. Accordingly, when the timing mechanism of the clock drives cam 12 to a position where theabrupt cam surface 10 becomes aligned With the abrupt surface formed by slot 13, the vibrator 3 acting through the bell crank 16 rapidly forces the cam member 12 toward the cam member 8 to the position shown in Fig. 3. In this position the vibrator arm 3 is unrestrained and is free to vibrate under the influence of the continuously applied'electro-magnetic forces to give an audible signal. It can be seen that if the shut olf lever 14 were to be moved to the left to the off position, shown in Fig. 6, the projection 15 will be brought into engagement with the vibrator arm 3, forcing it out of engagement with the bell crank lever 16, thereby restraining further vibratory movement of the vibrator arm 3 and also removing the spring force from the end of shaft 19.

The structure so far described is illustrated and described in greater detail in Patent No. 2,768,332 covering an invention of Donald E. Protzmann assigned to the assignee of the present invention. alarm clocks may include a pinion gear 20 which may be jection 15 thereon which is vibrator arm 3 and restrain Further, prior art err e m tel t n g V terval. mechanism does not interfere with any of the have been omitted from thedrawing.

tS'fiort interval mechanism According to tlhis invention, there is combined with the aforedesoribed alarm clock elements, auniquely designed and positioned short interval mechanism for interrupting vibration the alarm for a predctermined short interval inutes, This improved short inpr eviiiusly describ d l0 l elements, except to the extent that the operation of such short interval mechanism tempor arily takes over "control of audiblealarm vibrator 3 after bellcrank16 has been moved to the position shown 7 in ljig. 3 to permit the free end portion 4 of vibrator arm 3 to brate-againststator nut 5 and prodnce an andible alarm. i

The

improved short interval mechanism includes a vibrator shutdfi lever 22 for obstructing "or permitting vibration of the vibrator arm 3 As shown more particularly in liig. 5, vibrator shut-oft lever 22 maybe formed from a single piece offilat sheet material and is provided i a rarivardly x endi lu zsrermeaa the righ end thereof for booperating with the end of ;vibrator arm 3 re obstruct vibration of; the arm against field nut 5. Lever"22 is pivoted to the base plate 6=at 24 and may be rotated to the dotted line alarm foiff'position or the solid line alarm onf position shown in Fig; 5. As shown in Fig. 1,'counterclr ackwise movement of lever 22'beyond the alarm fonf position the upper surface or base plate 6. As shown in Fig. 5, the portion of vibrator shut-off lever 22fbetween pivot 24 and tab 23-m ay be indented so that the lever willfnot contact a spacer p ost'2 5 when the lever is pivoted counterclockwise to the alarm off? position.

manually operated; actuating mechanism is provided for rotating vibrator shut-ofi lever 22 to the alarm foif position, As shown in Fig. 5, the actuating mechanism includes an actuator lever 26 which is pivoted at the central portion thereof to vibrator shutofi lever 22 This pivot connection is made to the left of pivot 24, as viewed irl'Fi'g. SI's othat downward movement of lever 26 will rotate vibrator shut-off; lever 22 in a counterclockwise directioii to the dotted line alarm fofif position shown in Fig. S I -Inorder to guide lever 26 and to limit downward movementof the lever, the lower end portion 27 thereof isbi'ftifcated for-receiving a tab 28, which may be forwardly bent from base plate 6. The upper end portion of the lever 26 is connected to a manually movable plnnger 29 in a manner known inthe art. With this arrfangernent, should plunger 29 be struck with a blow of fist instead ofby reasonably gentle finger pressure, downward movement of lever 26 is restricted by tab 28 and the parts of applicants improved device are protected againsrdamage.

generally triangular intervallever 30, forms a unique interconnecting link between continuously rotatable pinion gear ZQ and vibrator shut-oil. lever 22. As shown in Fig'. 5, the upper portion of interval lever 30 is pivoted at 31 to the left end of vibrator shut-off lever 22 and a generally L shaped slot 32 having a long arm 33 and a short arm 34' is provid ed inthe lower portion of interval lever 30 fbr r eceivingpiniongear to accomplish a plurality ofifunctions' A plurality ofgear teeth 35 are provided ln 'in eryal lever 3Q'along the lower side of the long arm 33 of L'-shaped slot 32 for permitting pinion gear 20m rotateinterval lever 30 counterclockwise for apredetermined short time interval: At the'endof the interval, when gear 2 0, drives -out-of engagement with' teeth 35, interval lever maybe snapped upwardly'in the alarm is restricted by lug 23 abutting direction in a manner to be 'inore fully describedhereinafter, and the interval lever will be guided during this movement by the cooperation of pinion gear 20 with short arm 34 of L-shaped slot 32. As shown in Fig. 5, lug 23 cooperates with the upper surface of base plate 6 to prevent the lower end of the short arm 34 of L-shaped slot 32 from contacting pinion gear 20 thereby precluding friction drag between the'low er edge of slot 34 and pinion gear 20. In ad 'tion, the left portion of slot 32 at the juncture ofshoit' arm 34 and 161155511133 is'curved and positioned with respect to pivot31 and pinion gear 20 so thatdownwardmoverfientof plunger 29am interval 34) will cause the interval lever 3Q at the left portion of slot 32 tobea'r'againstthe'peripheFybfpinion 20 to pivot interval lever 3tiizl'obkwi'se'about'pivot' 31. By this arrangement, the interval lever 30 is not only moved as a function of time by pinion gear 26) to provide short time cycle actuation of vibrator shut-oft lever22, but the elemerits of this improvedshort interval mechanism are also positively guided 'and controlled at all timesby the'nni ue pinion and L-shaped slot arrangement; Furthermore, with this" arrangement, the'length' of the' short time intervalmaybe' accurately predetermined'by merely selecting the necessary 'nur'nb erof teeth in' 'in'terval lever 3t) to provide the desired time interval! v An arrangement for providing unique snap acting movement of the vibrator shut-oft" lever 22 without necessitatin'g an increase i'n'the'torq'ue" output reduirements of the'clock motor will"nowbe"'mor e* particularly de scribed. This improved snap action is achieved by uniquely combining'a spri'ng'36 as sh'own' in Fig. 5, with interval "lever 30 and thecther' el'em'e'n'ts ofthe improved short interval mechanism. The p'ri'ma'rypurpose of spring 36 is to'urge interval lever 30 bpvva'rdly andto the left as viewed in Fig. 5. Howeverfitidalso "desirable that the leftwardcomponentofthis"spririg force be such that it may beeasily overcome by th'e'counterc lockwise driving force ofpinion 20 without increasing the torque output requirements of the'clock motor; "As shown more particularly in Figs '1 and 5:,"spring' 36 is in the form of a coil which surrounds a spacer p st One end 37 of the spring 'is' placed over the upper 'su'r'faceof. base plated, and a generally straight portion 38 of the spring extends from the spacer post 25 toward interval ram for slidabl'e engagementwith a"forwardly"benttab 39 formed from the interval lever 303'As'show1i more particularly in Fi .4, tab '39inaybe "s'uitably slott'ed e540 for rec'eiv ing and guidingthe "straightportion 38 of the spring with respect to'tlieftab.

*Rererrin' fn'ow to Fig. 5, it can be seenrthat manual downward mwemear of plunger; 2Sf'in' the alarm oif" direction wilrrowerpivet BIj'tliei'elSy' moving thejshorter arm 34 of"L-shaped slot'32"downvvardlyjand sliding the interval lever at the curvedleftjuncture of slot 33 and 34 on the periphery efgea'r' 20 to pivot interval lever 30 in a clockwise direction iliitilthe pinion gear '20 is positioned" in slot 33. w en the: p'artsare inthisposition, a line "drawn perpendicular 1e" generally straight portion 38 "of thespring at its jx'jintof engagement with tab 39 willpass to rne1nerpivdts1$ Thus; asviewed in Fig. 5,fsp"ri ng 36' will cause interval lever"'3 0 to snap clockwise a'bou't piv0'tf31'frsnlting intab 3'9 sliding further towardjthe' end; of spring portion38 tothe dotted line position'shown in'FigfST'Wh en the manual downward force is released from plunger 29, spring 36 urges the right-most teeth of the intervalleverintd engagement with the teeth of pinion gear 20. Since the major component of the force of the straight s ring portion 38 ;o'n

tab 39 isupward, rather than to the left as viewedin'Fig. 5, a conventional clock'motorrnay easily drive continu-' ously rotatable pinion 20in oppositionto the force'of interval lever 30 counterclockwise th 20 decreases since the direction of the spring force, as represented by a line drawn perpendicular to spring portion 38 at its intersection with tab 39 approaches pivot point 31. When pinion drives out of engagement with teeth 35 at the end of the predetermined short interval the force direction of spring 36 passes through pivot 31 and spring 36 snaps the interval lever and the vibrator shut-oif lever 22 upwardly to the alarm on position to permit the vibrator arm 3 to vibrate against field nut 5. Simultaneously, plunger 29 is moved upward to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 4. It can be seen that with this unique arrangement substantial spring force is provided for snapping vibrator shut-off lever 22 in a clockwise direction at the end of the predetermined short interval to thereby quickly remove the vibrator shut-01f lever lug 23 from the vibrator arm 3 thus, allowing the vibrator arm 3 to snap down on the field nut 5 and commence to vibrate clear and distinctly. It should also be apparent that although spring 36 is ararnged to also snap the interval lever from the solid line position to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 5 when manual plunger 29 is depressed, a conventional low torque clock motor may easily rotate pinion gear 20 counterclockwise as viewed in Fig.

. 5 against the force of spring 36.

From the foregoing description, it will also be appreciated that the improved short interval mechanism may be uniquely combined with a prior art alarm clock by the addition of only five easily manufactured and assembled parts. Interval lever 30, vibrator shut-off lever 22, and lever 26 may be formed in a simple stamping operation and readily assembled. Manually operated plunger 29 may be formed from plastic in a manner known in the art, and coil spring 36 may be easily formed and positioned over the spacer post 25. Thus, an exceedingly simple, yet positive short interval mechanism is obtained.

Operation For operation of the alarm, the manual shut-01f lever 14 is pulled outwardly to the position shown in Fig. 2, thus allowing the end portion 4 of vibrator arm 3 to drop onto bell crank lever 16. In this position, bell crank lever 16 holds vibrator arm 3 up and away from field nut 5 The alarm is set to the required time by rotating cam gear 8 to the proper angular location in a manner known in the art. As the preset time is approached, the cam portions on gears 8 and 9 come into alignment and cam portion 9 drops into hole 13. Vibrator arm 3 acting as a spring through bell crank lever 16 rapidly forces cam gear 12 toward cam gear 8. As shown in Fig. 3, vibrator arm 3 snaps down on field nut 5 and starts buzzing. The buzzing will continue until shut-01f lever 14 is pushed inwardly so that projection 15- thereon contacts end portion 4 of the vibrator arm 3 to thereby permanently restrain further motion of vibrator arm 3 or the buzzing may be temporarily shut oil? by actuation of the improved short interval mechanism.

As shown in Fig. 4, the improved short interval alarm mechanism may be actuated by simply moving plunger 29 downwardly from the dotted line position to the solid line position. This lowers the left end of vibrator shutoff lever 22 which in turn pushes interval lever 39 downwardly. During this movement the right end of vibrator shut-off lever 22 is raised to engage lug 23 with the end of vibrator arm 3 to obstruct vibration of arm 3 against field nut 5 to shut off the alarm. During its downward travel, the portion of interval lever 30 at the left juncture of the arms of L-shaped slot 32 comes to bear against the periphery of pinion gear 20. This action causes interval lever 30 to pivot slightly clockwise about pivot pin 31 overce'ntering the force pplied by spring 36 with respect to pivot 31, thereby permitting spring 36 to snap interval lever 30 clockwise to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 5.' When the manual downward force is released from the plunger 29, spring 36 forces the right-most teeth in interval lever 30 into engagement with the teeth of pinion gear 20. The clock motor rotates gear 20 in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 5, and causes counterclockwise movement of interval lever 30 about pivot 31. At the end of the short time interval, lever teeth 35 become disengaged from pinion 20. Then spring 36 snaps interval lever 30 to the solid line position shown in Fig. 5, and simultaneously lug 23 of vibrator shut-ofl lever 22 is moved downward to permit the alarm vibrator to resound. This operation can be repeated to obtain several other similar short intervals of silence, or the alarm may be permanently shut off by moving lever 14 inwardly to the position shown in Fig. 6.

While there has been shown and described a particular embodiment of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the invention, and more specifically, for example, that the improved interval mechanism may be incorporated in many difierent alarm clock arrangements other than the one disclosed, and therefore it is aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An alarm clock comprising an alarm vibrator arm; a vibrator shut-01f lever having an alarm on position out of engagement with said vibrator arm, and an alarm off position in engagement with said vibrator arm; an interval lever pivotally mounted on said vibrator shut-off lever; gear means continuously rotated as a function of time by said clock cooperating with said interval lever to hold said vibrator shut-ofi lever in said alarm off position for a predetermined short interval; and spring means engaging said interval lever for snapping said vibrator shut-off lever to said alarm on position at the end of said predetermine'd short interval.

2. In an alarm clock comprising a supporting structure, an alarm mechanism having a resilient vibrator arm, and a pinion gear continuously rotated as a function of time by said clock, the improvement comprising a vibrator shut-off lever pivoted to said supporting structure, said vibrator shut-off lever having an alarm on position out of engagement with said vibrator arm, and an alarm oif position in engagement with said vibrator arm; manual means for moving said vibrator shut-off lever from said alarm on position to said alarm oif position; an interval lever pivotally mounted on said vibrator shut-off lever; a generally L-shaped slot formed in said interval lever for receiving said pinion gear, a plurality of teeth formed in said interval lever along one of the arms of said L-shaped slot for permitting said pinion gear to move interval lever as a function of time; and spring means for moving said interval lever to position the teeth formed in said interval lever in engagement with said pinion gear when said manual means moves said vibrtaor shut-off lever to said alarm off position.

3. In an alarm clock comprising a supporting structure, an alarm mechanism having a resilient vibrator arm, and a pinion gear continuously rotated as a function of time by said clock, the improvement comprising a vibrator shutoff lever pivoted to said supporting structure, said vibrator shut-off lever having an alarm on position out of engagement with said vibrator arm, and an alarm off position in engagement with said vibrator arm; manual means for moving said vibrator shut-01f lever from said alarm on position to said alarm off position; an interval lever pivotally mounted on said vibrator shut-01f lever; a generally L-shaped slot formed in said interval lever for receiving said pinion gear, a plurality of teeth formed in said interval lever along one of the arms of said L-shaped slot for permitting said pinion gear to move said interval lever as a function of time for a predetermined short interval, said pinion gear cooperating with said interval lever to hold said vibrator shut-01f lever in the alarm olf position when the teeth formed in said interval lever are'in engagement with said pinion gear; spring means for moving said interval lever topositi'on the'tee th formed in said interval lever in engagement'ivitli said pinion gear when said manual means moves said vibrator shut-oft lever to said alarm 01f position; saidotherf arm of said L-shaped slot permitting said spring means to also snap said interval lever and said vibrator shut-ofi lever to the alarm on position when the pinion gear becomes disengaged with said interval lever teeth at the end of said predetermined Sl QIi interval. i W i I 4. In an alarm clock comprising a supporting structure, an alarm mechanism having a resilient vibrator arm, and a pinion gear continuously rotated as a function of time by said clock, the improvement comprising a vibrator shut-off lever pivoted to said supporting structure, said vibrator'shuaoff lever. having an alarm on position outof engagement with said vibrator arm, and an alarm off position in engagement with said vibrator arm; manual means for moving said vibrator shut-oil lever from said alarm on position to said alarm olf position; an interval lever pivotally mounted on said vibrator shutoff lever; a generally L-shaped slot formed in said interval lever for receiving said pinion gear; a plurality of teeth formed in said interval lever along one of the arms of said L-shaped slot for permitting said pinion gear to move said interval lever as a function of time; and spring means for moving said interval lever, to position. the teeth formed in said interval lever in engagement with said pinion gear when said manual means moves said vibrator shut-off lever to said alarm 01f position, said gear cooperating with said interval lever teeth. to hold said vibrator shut-off lever in said alarm off position for a predetermined short interval.

5. An alarm clock comprising an alarm vibrator arm; a vibrator shut-oil. lever having an alarm on position out of engagement with said vibrator arm, and an. alarm off position in engagement with said vibratorarm; an interval lever pivotally mounted on said vibrator shut-01f lever; a manually operated actuator lever pivoted to said vibrator shut-ofi lever for moving said vibrator shut-E lever from said alarm on position to said alarm ofi position;

gear means continuously rotated as a function of time by said clock cooperating with said interval lever to hold said vibrator s l a predetermined short int and spring means enping said vibrator shutoff lever to, said alarm on position at the end of said predetermined short interval.

6. alarm eloclg comprising a supporting structure, an alarm vibrator arm; a vibrator shut-off lever having an alarm on position out of engagement with said vibrator arm, and an alarm ofi position in engagement with said vibrator arm; an interval lever pivotally mounted on said vibrator shut-oft lever; a manually operated actuator lever pivoted to said vibrator shut-off lever for mo in s id. v r tor shu ft l ver om said alarm on position to said alarm offposition; a vertically positioned tab formed on said supporting structure, the end of said actuator lever being bifurcated for cooperating with said tab to'g'uide the actuator lever for vertical reciprocating movement; gear means continuously rotated as a function of time by said clock cooperating with said interval lever to hold said vibrator shut-off'lever in said alarm ofi position for a predetermined short interval; and spring means engaging said interval lever for snapping said vibrator. shut-oft; lever to said alarm on position at the end of said predetermined short interval.

7. An alarm clock comprising a supporting structure including a post; an alarm vibrator arm; a vibrator shuton lever having an alarm on position out of engagement with said, vibrator arm, andran alarm oilpositionin engagement with said vibrator arm; an interval lever pivotal- 1y mounted on said vibrator shut-off lever; gear'means continuously rotated as a function of time bysaid clock for moving said interval lever; a spring positioned over said. post and connected at one end thereof to said supgaging aid nte 1 porting structure; and a tab having a slot formed on said interval lever; the other end of said springbeing generally straight and positioned in said slot for slidable movement therein as said pinion gear moves said intervallever.

No references cited.

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